Hello wannadance1 and welcome. You're question is a hard one to answer, because it all depends on whether you're speaking about enjoyment levels, difficulty, or some other factor.

for enjoyment, only really you can decide that one (though for me it would be tap and jazz); for difficulty, I'm not really sure as i'm not a dancer but i'd guess ballet would be the hardest, although someone with more knowledge of this will no doubt help you.

Hi, wannadance1. If you are interested in musical theater, perhaps taking some jazz classes would be a good idea. Ballet is also beneficial because it is a good, solid base for many other dance forms you might wish to study. Try some different classes and see which ones you enjoy, and take it from there...Good luck!

I think we're asking, are you dancing just for recreation? For exercise? In the hopes of being a professional dancer?

As a carefully-thought-out plan to be "discovered" by a TV producer who's picking her daughter up from class and then put by her on a nationally-broadcast television show which will be seen by the leaders of a major political party who will decide to run you for political office, culminating in your election as leader of the free world?

Any of the above is a perfectly admirable goal, except maybe the last one.

Picking up two phrases of yours, wannadance: "which is better" and "want to be a "great". It does depend how you define these terms.

So if money and fame are the key elements, then starting with the top style, I would say:

musical theatre, ballet with modern dance a poor third

whereas if creativity is the main driver, then modern dance would be top of my list. Two examples:

1. Madonna was a talented modern dancer and was on a path to a pro career with all the creative excitement and poor pay and conditions that are part of life performing this dance style. She gave it up as she knew she would never be famous and rich in this art form.

2. A UK dancer I know had achieved quite a lot in ballet, had a name among ballet lovers and a regular income. She gave it up for the financial uncertainty of modern dance as she was excited by the opportunity to have work created on her regularly and to dance in a different way.

There is no one path and yours will depend on your priorities and how you define the terms at the top of this post.

I'll bow to the judgement of the teachers here, but Alex's comments look sound and for general dance technique that can be applied in a variety of circumstances, ballet is hard to beat.

Most pro dancers in any style have done at least some ballet and I remember a previous generation of Merce Cunningham dancers saying that they attended ballet class before their Cunningham, to help cope with the rigours of the Master's choreography.

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